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Barn soil with pigs- safety for growing things

 
pollinator
Posts: 2916
Location: Zone 5 Wyoming
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When we bought our house 12 years ago the barn had never been mucked out. The years of horse poop had hardened into a cement like slope. I tried mucking it out with our tractor but it was solid. I couldn't. It turned out to be an alright thing that the ground was sloped as the barn was always dry inside, even when the outside was flooding. Now, however, I am looking at a barn conversion and am wondering about the ground in there. I've had pigs on it for years. I know tape worms stay in the soil for ages and you can't eat anything grown where pig poop has been for risk of getting tape worms. Is the soil here too dangerous?
 
rocket scientist
Posts: 1909
Location: Coastal Salish Sea area, British Columbia
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if i was in your situation. I would just grow crops that need to be cooked. Maybe even crops which are grown above ground.

Corn, squash, cabbage, onions, leeks, rutabaga.  I am sure you can grow beets. I would avoid foods which can be sometimes eaten raw. Cabbage would be iffy.  kale.


How big is the area? How about growing a whole bunch of corn just for feeding your pigs/chickens? Or even pop corn which you can sell to friends/family?
 
steward & manure connoisseur
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I wondered this when I first saw the thread and am going to take advantage to ask now-- what do you mean barn conversion? Converting to a building? Tearing down?
If you're tearing down, could you leave a few walls or remove roofing partially and maybe have a corner of your farm that isn't totally wracked by wind? Could this be a place to start fruit trees, which might really like that manure rich soil?
 
steward
Posts: 18366
Location: USDA Zone 8a
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If this barn conversion is going to be a greenhouse, will you plant directly into the ground or will you use growing on tables and containers as I see in many greenhouses?

As you mentioned here:

https://permies.com/t/176727/Zones-tropical-unheated-greenhouse#1391853

Will this be a living space like in those Youtubes?

What are you planning on growing in this barn conversion?
 
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